


Secrets at St Marlowe's

by Ephemera_pop (Alex_Draven)



Category: Popslash
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, F/F, Genderswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-04
Updated: 2007-02-04
Packaged: 2018-10-17 10:20:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10592013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alex_Draven/pseuds/Ephemera_pop
Summary: Arriving at St Marlowe's half way through the first term as she had, Laney had been grateful to be spared the torture of joining the first year dorms, let alone to be given the boon of sharing a room with someone who became her best friend.They weren't an obvious match. While Laney was quiet and studious, Jo was an outgoing girl, queen of the drama society and just as likely to be found plotting a midnight feast by the lake as she was doing her prep.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pensnest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pensnest/gifts).



> For [](http://pensnest.livejournal.com/profile)[**pensnest**](http://pensnest.livejournal.com/) , a school story. (Or as a friend pointed out - they're not so much _girls_ as _gells_ ). It's only a little late for Trickyfish day ...
> 
> Many thanks to [](http://turps33.livejournal.com/profile)[**turps33**](http://turps33.livejournal.com/) for the speedy beta action. I've altered it since, so any and all mistakes are my own.

Laney ducked her head and concentrated on brushing Jo's thick, glossy hair. It was something they did every evening, ever since the good-hearted third year had taken Laney under her wing on Laney's first day.

Arriving at St Marlowe's half way through the first term as she had, Laney had been grateful to be spared the torture of joining the first year dorms, let alone to be given the boon of sharing a room with someone who became her best friend.

They weren't an obvious match. While Laney was quiet and studious, Jo was an outgoing girl, queen of the drama society and just as likely to be found plotting a midnight feast by the lake as she was doing her prep. With Jo around, every day became an occasion, but at the end of every day she sat, still and quiet, on the floor of their shared room with her arms wrapped around her knees, and let Laney's fingers comb through her hair.

Laney's hair was somewhere between blond and brown, and only just long enough to stay in a ponytail while Jo had the most beautiful hair, which fell in long, dark waves to her waist. It gleamed in the light from the bed side tables, and she tilted her head into Laney's touch, arching her neck like a pony being patted.

Only today, their evening ritual had been interrupted by Chrissie, who was leaning around the door, half in the corridor and half in their room, telling Jo all sorts of terrible stories. Laney was quite sure that if even half of them were true Chrissie would have been sent away long ago, and certainly not made a House Captain.

Some of the things Chrissie said made Laney's cheeks hot, and her stomach turn somersaults, because it was bad enough that Chrissie was here and was ignoring Laney, but the idea that Chrissie might notice that Laney was blushing was even worse. Only children and total ninnies blushed when other people were talking about boys and kissing and things.

Laney pinched the soft skin above her knee through her uniform cotton nightie, and tried not to see anything else but the soothing pattern of bristles surfacing up through Jo's hair, even though her ears were burning, straining to catch every word.

Chrissie and Jo weren't talking about _boys_ and kissing any more.

They were talking about Jacie, who was House Captain for Decker House, and Justine.

Laney and Justine had French together, and while Laney's presentations were halting, and her accent mauvais, Justine chattered on like she had been born in France. She was tall and slender, and had buttery-golden hair which curled naturally, and smiled at everyone.

And Chrissie had seen Justine and Jacie in the courtyard behind the dining hall.

Kissing.

Laney risked a quick glance. Chrissie's smooth lips were curled in a sort of expectant smile, and her dark eyes were dancing, and she had her arms wrapped around herself, only she didn't look like someone who was trying to hide away, more like someone who was hugging themselves to keep from bursting with excitement. Laney could hardly help but see something of the way Chrissie's arms were pushing her breasts up and together under her dressing gown, and she had to bite her lip to keep from looking a second time.

"Justine? But she's only a second year!" Jo blurted out, and then covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, Chrissie, come in."

Jo waved her hands frantically, and Chrissie let the door bump closed behind her, and settled herself on Jo's bed.

Laney concentrated on making the three sections of Jo's plait perfectly even.  
  
"Oh – she's fine. Aren't you Laney?" Jo said, as though answering a question. Laney blinked, and nodded hurriedly. She wasn't at all sure what it was that she was supposed to be fine about, but she wasn't going to say no.

"But – Justine?" Jo continued, and it took Laney quite by surprise that the words were almost a wail. She instinctively dropped Jo's hair, and cupped her hands around Jo's shoulders. Jo fumbled one hand up to squeeze Laney's fingers.

"I know. I'm sorry, Jo. I just thought – well – it's better that you know, isn't it?"

Jo shook her head.

"Jo?" Laney whispered, and her friend twisted around, threw her arms around Laney's waist, sobbing.

Laney found herself staring at Chrissie with wide, scared, eyes. Chrissie was chewing at her lower lip and then, all in a rush, Chrissie launched herself from Jo's bed, landing on her knees on the rug next to Jo, where she could stroke Jo's back, making small 'there there' sounds.

*****

Later, after Miss Richardson had chased Chrissie away to her own room, and lights out, and the distant sound of the church clock marking eleven o'clock, Laney lay in bed, unable to sleep.

"Jo?" Laney whispered.

"Laney?" Jo answered, and the springs of her bed said that she rolled over on to her side.

"I thought you might still be awake."

"I'm sorry."

Even whispering in the darkness Jo sounded subdued and quiet. Laney pushed back her blankets and crept across the room. Patting her way from the edge of the bed to Jo's shoulder, Laney gave her friend a gentle push.

"Shove over, Jo. The floor's freezing."

Jo moved over, and held the blanket open for Laney to hop in and warm up.

Laney turned on her side, settling one arm around her friend's waist in an easy embrace, and rested her forehead on Jo's shoulder.

"Don't you mind, at all?" Jo held her breath, waiting for an answer.

"Mind?" Laney had to ask.

"That… I mean… Oh Laney, I never said anything, before now, and I've been so scared that you would think of me differently, that you wouldn't want to be friends any more. Ever so many people wouldn't."

"Because you were so upset?"

"Because Jacie's a girl."

Laney closed her eyes, and tightened her arm a little.

The room was silent for a while.

"Is it wrong, then, to care so about other girls?"

Jo's reply was an indelicate snort, and Laney forced herself to speak again.

"I wasn't sure if I was wrong or not."

Jo lay very still.

"You, Laney?"

Laney nodded, rubbing her forehead against Jo's shoulder, moving cotton over skin.  
  
"But …" Jo seemed lost for words. "Oh. Oh Laney, it's Chrissie, isn't it? Your pash, I mean? I should have seen!"

Laney could feel her cheeks burning in the darkness, but when she tried to move Jo grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

*****.

Laney was excused from prep five minutes before the bell, so that she could deliver a note from Miss Litrell, who taught Religious Instruction, to Miss Richardson, which meant that the staircases were still quiet as she climbed up to Miss Richardson's room.

The hand that touched her on the arm almost made her scream aloud.

"Chrissie!" she exclaimed.

"Shhh – just – come to my room once you've given Miss R that, would you?"

Laney nodded, and scampered up the remaining stairs with her heart pounding in her chest.

*****

"Jo's lucky to have a friend like you, Laney."

Chrissie stood with her back to the door, leaning back on her hands, crossing her ankles.

Laney shook her head, at a loss for how to answer.

"She is. She's quite something herself, mind." Chrissie smiled, and her face was transformed – pixie-ish and radiant under her glamorous short-cut hair. "Did you really not know that she has been pining after Jacie since the Easter hols at least?"

"So, you see, I can't be that good a friend," Laney blurted out, and then wished that she hadn't said anything at all.

"Stuff and nonsense, girl. You know as well as anyone how good an actress Jo is."

"But all the same, a friend should have seen …"

Chrissie was across the room in a second, crouching down, with her hands on the bedspread on either side of Laney's legs.

"Now, please. We'll have none of that. I can't stand girls who talk themselves in circles and insist on taking the blame. I told Jo as much earlier."

"Earlier?" Laney's eyes were fixed on Chrissie's collar bones, delicate skin and elegant shadows in the lee of her blouse's collar.

"She tried to give me a rather over dramatic little scene, about how her dear friend had been keeping secrets …"

Chrissie's voice faded out, and Laney's eyes were drawn unwillingly up to meet Chrissie's, afraid of what she might find.

"Of course, I'm not one for gossip," Chrissie breathed, not moving away at all, close enough that Laney could feel the words against her skin, close enough that she could see Chrissie's brown eyes had tiny golden flecks in them. "I prefer to know things first hand."

The first time Chrissie's lips touched Laney's it was like the buzz and sparkle of champaign punch, and Laney quite forgot to breathe, but the second – a little firmer, a little hotter – made her gasp, inhaling Chrissie's sweet breath, and her hands flew to Chrissie's sides. She needed to hold on, she felt, or else she might go spiralling away. Only Chrissie's waist was firm and yielding, warm through the stiff cotton of her blouse, and Chrissie's lips were insistent, and one hand cupped Laney's neck, supporting her head as Chrissie's kisses overpowered her. She had never even dared to dream…

The knocking on Chrissie's door sent them flying apart.

"Who is it?" Chrissie called, and her voice sounded quite normal, but there was a delicate flush under her freckles, and she waved one hand frantically, gesturing for Laney to move over, where she would be behind the door as it opened.

Laney moved, despite the wash of pure terror which washed over her as a familiar voice informed Chrissie that her guest was their Head of House. She froze as the door swung open, coming to a rest barely an inch from her shoes.

"Chrissie? Oh there you are. Prep time is over – you should be in the common room."

"Yes, Miss Richardson," Chrissie said, closing the book she had been resourceful enough to pick up, as though she had been absorbed in her studies all along. "I didn't realise the time."

"I'm glad you are finding Petrarch so rewarding."

Laney could almost picture the small smile that Miss Richardson would give. Chrissie stood up, and Miss Richardson enquired as to which passages she had been reading as their voices followed them down the staircase towards the common room.

Laney touched one tentative hand to her lips. Oh, she had to find Jo! She had so much to tell her!

*****


End file.
